This invention deals with a portable lifter of the kind designed to fit around the balled earth and root system or bagged earth and root system of a shrub or a tree. The common practice, in preparing trees for transportation, storage, and transplanting, is to dig around the roots of the tree at a suitable distance from the trunk or stem to leave a ball of dirt on the roots and then this ball of dirt and the roots are enclosed in a burlap covering to hold the dirt on the roots during storage or handling. Once the tree roots are secured in this manner, it is customary to move them for transplanting purposes without unsecuring the burlap covering from the earth and root system. The trees are lifted and transplanted in this manner.
Lifting balled trees or potted trees has always been a task due to the awkward shape, size, and weight of the tree. Devices have been made to aid digging and moving trees from one area to another.
Most of the devices that are used today consist of motor equipped devices that not only assist in holding the balled tree, but they also assist in the digging and removal of such trees from the ground.
One such device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,278 issued on Nov. 6, 1956 to Frank and George Wassell in which there is shown a very complicated digging device with cutting plates, chain drives and the like.
Another such device is a tree digger and container disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,988,393, issued on June 13, 1961 to John Logan in which there is shown a side digger which is forced into the ground and which encircles the roots and eventually severs the roots from the ground and creates a container for the storage of the tree.
A more common type of transplanting device can be found in the disclosure of Sigler, et al. as U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,719, issued Jan. 23, 1962, where there is shown a cone shaped device, mounted on a tractor or truck, and which allows conical flaps to dig down around the root system of a tree and essentially enclose the main root system of the tree and whereby the tree can be lifted out of the ground.
An analogous device including a flat bed or trailer for floating the removed tree is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,368 also to Sigler et al.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,045,368, issued to L. Whitcomb, there is disclosed a device which is used for removing or balling a bush or tree with a mechanism capable of moving a pair of semi-cylindrical knife supporting members around the base of a bush or tree, closing the same to form a circular downwardly pointing knife assembly and then causing both of the semi-circular knives to swing transversely in an arc of 90.degree. to cut down and around the roots of the bush or tree, and loosen the soil and roots in an area in the form of a half sphere, lifting the bush or tree together with this half sphere or ball of earth and depositing the same in a holder upon a burlap sheet so that the burlap sheet can be raised over the surface of the ball for fastening together around the base or trunk of the bush or tree.
Sigler, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,989, issued Dec. 22, 1964 discloses a device similar to the device of the earlier discussed Sigler, et al patent. U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,719. Analgous devices can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,847, issued Dec. 25, 1979 to Jean-Pierre Osterwalder: U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,605, issued Nov. 24, 1981 to Christopher Newman: U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,252, issued to Arthur Dahlquist on Sept. 28, 1982, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,518, issued to Albert Korenek on Apr. 21, 1987.
As can be observed by those skilled in the art, these devices are large in structure, complicated, awkward, expensive, and have as their primary purpose, the digging of trees, that is, the transportation of the dug trees is secondary in these references.
The most pertinent reference within the knowledge of the inventor herein is the U.S. Pat. No. 2,549,476, issued on Apr. 17, 1951 to W. B. Johnson, in which there is shown a hand operated transplanting digger for shrubs and trees. The digger comprises a digging scoop of bowl shape, divided along a vertical plane to form two cooperating halves. The two halves are pivotally supported at their corners on horizontal axes so that they may be rotated from a closed position through substantially 90.degree. to a digging position where they may be forced into the ground. The edges of the two halves of the scoop adjacent the dividing plane constitute the digging edges. When pressure is applied on each of the set of handles, the apparatus digs into the earth and scoops under the roots and severs them. The rotating scoop halves are then locked together to form a container in which to carry the balled earth and roots. The digger/carrier is then ready to be moved.